


Oh, Tell Me Something I Don't Already Know

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, DPS Fic Exchange 2018, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-11 15:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15318411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: Summer arrives, Meeks makes a mistake, and Charlie. Well, Charlie runs with it.





	Oh, Tell Me Something I Don't Already Know

**Author's Note:**

> i listened to a disgustingly large amount of one direction while i wrote this but the title is from harry styles's ever since new york!
> 
> anyway! this is for ijustwantyourjeans on tumblr as part of the dps fic exchange! i was tasked with a charlie/meeks fake dating au so here we are with a kinda condensed version of a fake dating scenario with a super weird framing*
> 
> *by which i mean consider the bolded sections as someone speaking to you, like the princess bride gkdjfkskf

**Surprisingly, it isn't Charlie that gets them into this, ah. Situation, as it has so been deemed by way of democratic vote.**

**See, if you'd asked someone - given them a hypothetical scenario and a set group of hypothetical perpetrators - they would have said, "Well, surely it was Charlie."**

**When you break the news that no, it was not one Charles Dalton, they would say, "Understandable, then Neil, right?"**

**And you would again have to break their heart, but they'd at least be ready this time. They go dowan the line, offering Knox, maybe Cameron, even _Pitts_  depending on the person. Not Todd, never Todd, unless you ask a Poet himself, but they'd never have the correct answer.**

**And then you'd tell them, because they, like all things, just need the answer in the end.**

**And they would reply, "No, no, of all people, it couldn't be-"**

**But you would dispute, because it's the answer, solemn and serious and blinding.**

**The good news, though, is that you wouldn't have to debate for long. See, this isn't hypothetical, it's actually quite real.**

**And it's all Meeks's fault.**

\-----

"Even Satan would take offense to this bullshit heat," are Charlie's words as he enters Neil and Todd's dorm room, flopping down on the former's mattress.

"That's an interesting way to put it," Neil replies mildly, not looking up from his phone.

"I'm melting, Neil, have some respect."

"You're not melting, Charlie," he laughs, looking down at Charlie's pitiful face. "That's just your inner Wicked Witch talking."

"Oh, shut up-" Charlie barks out around a startled laugh, swatting at whatever piece of Neil is closest - his knee, it seems.

"Hey, have you started that essay yet?" Charlie asks, swivelling his eyes toward Neil, but never picking his head up.

"No, Keating had me grading all weekend, and then I had to do one of his tutoring slots this morning. My brain's fried for at least another twenty-four hours."

"Well aren't you just the best little TA?" Charlie muses.

"We can't all be you. Gotta find something to do with our free time."

"You're absolutely right, Neil, and I'm so glad you see th-"

There's a sharp squeak from the hallway, and then a body tumbles into the dorm, a flurry of which red hair is the only calling card.

It's only a flash before they've laid across both Neil and Charlie haphazardly, seemingly uncaring about elbows and knees.

There's a pause, breath bated in the seconds that pass, and then a muffled, "Neil, I fucked up."

"Do tell," Charlie pipes in when Neil, still blinking indignantly, doesn't respond.

"Oh, hey, Charlie," Meeks mumbles.

"Hello to you, too, Meeksy."

"Okay," Neil finally grunts, shifting under the half-Charlie and full-Meeks that are sprawled across him. "What happened?"

"Do either of you remember that guy I told you about, Chris? We're both doing engineering, blah, blah-?"

"Ah, yes, Computer Nerd number four," Charlie replies evenly, not a single waver to his voice. Neil would be impressed if he was getting enough oxygen to feel more than just an oncoming headache.

"Right, so, what I didn't tell you is that he asked me out for coffee like, a few months ago."

"That's great, Meeks," Neil begins, but Meeks effectively cuts him off with, "And I said no."

"Oh. Well, all right."

"This doesn't scream 'fuck up' to me, he always smelled like three different body washes - what's he hiding, y'know?" Charlie adds in.

"No, that's not-" Meeks makes an impatient, aggravated noise. "Look, he came back up to me today, right?"

"If he's bothering you," Neil begins, but Meeks swats away his words, his hand landing on the bridge of Neil's nose. He drags it down and presses a firm finger against the brunet's pursed lips.

"Sh," he instructs. "Listen. He comes up to me today, and we're chatting, 'cause we're cool now, and he's all like 'hey, man, has anyone asked you about the retreat?' and I'm thinking to myself 'huh' 'cause doesn't that sounds vague and suspicious?

"Anyway, he must see on my face that I'm not feeling it, because he launches into this explanation of which I'll give you the shorthand. Apparently, he and his best friend know a guy and they're getting a great deal on renting a lake house.

"He, said best friend, and their respective partners are going out for like two weeks. They just need one more guy so cost stays low and I'm like, relatively good with these guys, we're in a study group together, it's not the weirdest thing I've been asked, so I'm all on board and shit. He showed me pictures and it's really nice, a fantastic way to spend my summer instead of sitting around the house while my parents are on that cruise."

"But then?" Neil asks.

"Apparently I missed a step along the way. For context: at this point I've already agreed, accepted the Venmo charge because for real, amazing deal, and started planning. _But then_ ," he says, groaning into Neil's ribs. "As he's going to leave, he says, 'Cool, I'll get up with you later this week, and we can see if you and your boyfriend want to carpool.'"

" _Boyfriend_?" Charlie says, and it's much less even than before, like a rug with that one pesky bump in it.

"They didn't want anyone to feel weird fifth wheeling them, so they wanted to get someone with a SO," Meeks explains patiently. "Which is something he allegedly specified. I'm still not sure. Anyway, I've already mustered up an emotion that isn't academic agony; I've paid this dude! I can't just back out now, and he's being super adamant about the couples thing, so I'm like, 'shit!', y'know?"

"Can't say I do," Neil jokes. "So, how did you rectify the miscommunication?"

"I didn't, because I'm a dumbass who just wanted to treat himself."

It goes silent after that, the only sound being the ticking of the clock above the door, and three almost-synched breaths.

"Meeks," Charlie says finally. "What're you not telling us?"

The red head mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like, "I hate you," but draws in a breath and continues anyway.

"All right, fine. So, I'm all like, 'boyfriend?' 'cause that's exactly how a normal person responds to that, and he's all like, 'Yeah, and unless you wanna give me Dalton's number, you'll just have to relay the message' and before I could say anything else his mom called and he left."

Surprisingly, Neil's the first to respond to that little nugget of knowledge. "Could be worse."

This, at least, gets Charlie laughing. He covers his face with his hands and just _laughs_ into them, his body shaking the little twin mattress that really shouldn't be holding all three of them.

"Okay," Charlie wheezes, laughter still in the slope of his shoulders. "Okay," he repeats. "When is it?"

And because it's Neil's ribs Meeks has his face buried into, it's Neil who feels the way he stills and draws in a small breath.

"What?"

"When is it, Meeksy? Or should I say dearest- darling?"

When Meeks doesn't immediately respond, Charlie continues, "Oh, c'mon, this is right up my alley!"

And because it's Neil's shoulder Charlie has his chest pressed against, it's Neil who can feel the racing of his heart despite the blasé tone to his voice.

Meeks sighs covertly - a smile tickling at Neil's lips being the only fallen domino off of it - and says, "I'll put it in our Google Calendar."

Neil is so close to losing his shit.

\-----

**In the end, they don't:**

**\- talk about it (despite having ample time to do so)**

**\- figure out a game plan (despite them being really good at game planning, as this isn't even the worst situation they've found themselves in)**

**or**

**\- carpool.**

\-----

A few weeks and one multiple hour car ride later, Charlie throws the truck into park between a tragic Subaru and a practical Toyota. He doesn't make any move aside from pulling the key from the engine and resting his hands in his lap.

"Hypothetically," Meeks says as he adjusts his glasses. "If I were to apologize-"

"I'd tell you to shut up," Charlie interrupts easily, eyes curiously taking in the two story , worn-wood house in front of them.

"Good thing I wasn't going to apologize, then," he replies through a small laugh.

Charlie shakes his head, a small smile creeping onto his mouth. "Well, darling, your indie summer film style vacation awaits you," he says, gesturing widely at the house in front of them.

Meeks cracks a grin as he slams the truck door open and hops down, kicking up a small dust cloud under his slide ons. Charlie absolutely _doesn't_ take the chance to account for all the freckles spattered across Meeks's quietly broad shoulders and up his neck into his hairline.

Except he kind of does.

His hair has grown out just enough that it curls at the edge of his hairline, which points toward a trail of freckles that races from his shoulder up his neck and finaly cuffs his ear.

For one brief second he entertains the thought of how hard would Meeks laugh if h- _someone_ planted a kiss there, but he snaps from it just as quickly as he dove into it when the passenger door falls shut.

Out of the rearview Charlie can see the atrociously aqua tank top Meeks is sporting squirm as he tugs their bags over the tailgate. He almost rolls down the window and tells him to let the tailgate down just for the hell of it, even though he knows that it's permanently stuck shut.

But before he can get a word out, Meeks is knocking on the side of the truck and trudging up the short incline toward the only-vaguely-dangerous-at-best looking front porch, both their bags in tow.

Charlie hauls himself out of the truck at record speed and pockets the keys in his, as Neil affectionately calls them, "My dad's a lawyer" shorts.

"Wait up, sweetums," Charlie calls, unplugging Meeks's phone and aux cord from the radio and pocketing those, too. He always forgets his phone, it's amazing they haven't duct taped it to him yet.

"Get a move on, honey, it's hot out here!" Meeks replies easily.

"That's just me!" Charlie shouts back as he mounts the incline and surpasses it in five quick steps.

"Shut up," Meeks laughs, swatting at Charlie with one hand as he knocks with the other.

"'s open!"

Meeks huffs and twists the handle begore he grabs their bags back up and marches inside, no hesitation in sight.

Following behind him, Charlie bumps the door closed with his hip. It clicks resolutely, the final buzzer - game's over, folks, now the realness sets in.

The heat immediately sets in, sticking coils under Charlie and Meeks's skin, bringing blush to cheeks and sweat to brows.

"Hey, guys," Chris calls, throwing a hand up in greeting from where he's sprawled across the floor in front of a small, sputtering fan in only shorts and flip flops.

His blonde hair is plastered to his face flushed face, but he wipes at it, leaving it stuck up every which way.

"A/C's acting up, but Jenni said she can fix it, so." Chris shrugs. "Should be fine. But come in! Rooms are straight shot up the stairs, yours is at the end of the hall."

"Where's Sam?" Meeks asks, as if these words mean anything to Charlie.

"She and Zarah went to dip their toes in the lake," he replies, rolling closer to the fan. "Uh, Jen wanted to do group dinner, but other than that day's free. I'll be here."

And with that, the conversation is over.

"C'mon," Meeks says, hand bumping Charlie's elbow before he sets off for the stairs.

Charlie follows dutifully, taking the steps two at a time when he can until they reach the landing.

It's only a few quick steps down the hall before they reach their room, door already cracked, the only one down the hall in fact.

"Care to give me a run down on our housemates for the next two weeks?" he asks, leaning around Meeks to press his palm flat against their door to keep it open.

"Oh, shit, yeah. Chris and Jenni are childhood best friends. Sam is Jenni's girlfriend. Zarah's dating Chris, and she and Sam are pretty good friends."

Charlie tracks that mentally, still not having faces to attach to any of the names.

"Quit worrying about, High Society," Meeks jokes as he drops their bags at the foot of the bed. "No one's gonna croak if you don't get it on the first try."

"It's polite-"

"It's your conditioning," Meeks replies with a soft laugh as he adjusts his glasses. It's an age old joke they have, one Charlie originated and just let grow.

"You're a horrible boyfriend," Charlie quips, but his lips betray him when they twist up, up, upward.

"I'm the best you'll ever get," Meeks shoots back, matching grin pushing at his glasses when he bumps their shoulders together. "So: will it offend your delicate sensibilities if I don't unpack and just live out of my bag while we're here?"

"I'm a twenty-two year old college student not a southern belle, Meeks. I'd be more offended if you unpacked."

\-----

A few hours later, the A/C is fixed, Chris and Zarah are cooking dinner, and Charlie and Meeks's arrival has been well received by everyone.

They, Jenni, and Sam are huddled around the table, trying to figure out what the other two are cooking, but with no luck.

"I'm telling you, that was paprika," Charlie says.

"And I'm telling you, it was cayenne. I can smell it all the way over here," Meeks replies, bumping his shoulder against Charlie's goodnaturedly.

"So what, chili?" Jenni asks. "That's about all Chris knows how to make and Z isn't much better." Her black hair is pulled back on her head in a messy bun, sprigs finding themselves felled when she pushes her pale hand back over them.

"No, babe, remember there was chicken," Sam interjects, brown fingers tapping against the tabletop.

"That wasn't chicken, was it?" Meeks asks with a shudder.

"Well then, boy genius, what might it have been?" Charlie asks.

Meeks, because he possesses the same amount of control as a five year old, sticks his tongue out at Charlie and doesn't reply.

Charlie's face goes through about four stages of grief before he cracks, cheeks scrunching in a face-splitting laugh.

Sam smiles softly at them. "How long have you two been dating?" she asks when Charlie's laugh lulls and they quit having conversations with their eyes and elbow jabs and shoulder knocks.

"Well, we met when we were, what was it Meeksy? "

"Four."

"Four, right, so subtract off four from twenty-two, and there you go."

"You'd think he was joking, but the day we met the first thing he did was ask to hold my hand and here we are, eighteen years later." Meeks's tone is droll, and his face slack, but Charlie can see the spark of humor in his eyes.

"No, yeah, that tracks," Sam replies as she casually swipes her thick, cinnamon curls back into a ponytail.

\-----

**Surprisingly, that's the only question of their validity. For one whole week, they carry on as they normally would, not going out of their way to be anything but themselves, and realizing that's more than enough.**

**The thing is, Charlie and Meeks have always had that kind of friendship. The one where you see them together and you wonder, just a little.**

**Hell, you could could have known them for ten years (Neil) or three (Todd) and still question it, at the back of your mind.**

**You might be asking exactly what is meant by that. If there's specific things that they do, or say, ways they act. And while the answer is generally no, it is also very much a resounding yes.**

**_Now_ you're asking how that could be! It can't be yes and no because that is not a yes and no question! But it is, oh how it is.**

**You would ask for examples, of course, and, of course you would be happily obliged, because it's far, far too easy.**

**In fact, by the second week of their stay, they've begun falling back into old patterns, and the examples are obvious to see.**

\-----

"Meeks, Meeks, listen," Charlie mumbles into the crook of Meeks's neck. "Listen, screw this trip, we just stay here, in this exact spot, until we absolutely have to get up," he adds.

They're curled around one another on the couch in the living room, like they always find themselves fitted onto this particular type of furniture (chairs are a whole other ballgame.)

Meeks had been the one originally on the couch, lying on his back, trying to doze a few of the warmer hours away.

Charlie had, of course, taken this as an open invitation - which, not to say that it wasn't, because it kind of was, within the realm of their friendship - and had crawled his way over Meeks, pressing between him and the plump couch cushions.

And now, here they are, half an hour later. In Charlie's defense, it was incredibly comfortable.

"'lee, I'm hungry," Meeks reiterates in words dripping with sweet sleepiness. "'nd I told Chris I'd do dinner tonight."

Charlie pauses in his mission, considering the new alternative. Meeks was a good cook, not great, but he had a few dishes that were up there.

It's a tough call, one that can't possibly be made in a split second, and Meeks knows that, the asshole. He waits until Charlie's eyebrows are pinched in such a way that indicates he's deep in thought, and then he shimmies, rolling toward the edge of the couch.

"No you don't," Charlie quips, hand shooting out and clasping Meeks's wrist.

"Do you really wanna do this today?" Meeks asks, craning his head back over his shoulder, eyes peaked in mischievous curiosity.

Eyebrow popped in reply, Charlie says, "That sounds like a challenge."

"One you're gonna lose," Meeks assures him, wrenching his arm free of Charlie's grasp.

And that's all it takes, they're off to the races after that.

Charlie reaches back for him, but Meeks sidesteps it, and goes to roll. Unlucky for him, Charlie knows all his tricks. They have been playing this game since they were four, after all.

Charlie hooks one arm around Meeks's middle and tugs him back into his chest, earning a swift moving foot to the shin for his efforts, but otherwise coming out in the other side unscathed.

"You always do this," Meeks huffs.

"It always wor-" but Charlie doesn't have the time or sheer willpower to finish his nonchalant reply, because in one sharp turn Meeks is facing him, crowded all in his space.

Charlie swallows the rest of his words.

Meeks blinks once, a clear movement, and in the next, he has his hand around Charlie's shoulder, pushing him flush against the couch. Using his other hand to brace against the spot he's just vacated, Meeks looms above Charlie with a self-satisfied grin.

"Gotcha," he proclaims proudly.

Charlie looks up at him, at his gentle curls and his unwavering freckles. His chapped lips that are pulled into that grin that Charlie loves so, so much.

And he can't help but laugh.

Because this moment is like so many others they've shared, but it isn't, right? It isn't because this is the exact moment that Charlie realizes it isn't just that smile he loves, and he doesn't just want to kiss Meeks out of his regular curiosity.

Because this is the moment that Charlie realizes he's a little in love with Steven Meeks, and it's because of some half-baked wrestling match that they've had countless times over countless things and one little spark of light in otherwise cool toned eyes.

Meeks's eyebrows shoot up, but his mouth softens, and he lets out a steady chuckle that intermingles with Charlie's delighted wheezing. And then they're just _laughing_ together, unaware of the truth in those sounds.

Meeks ducks his head, tucking it against Charlie's still rattling chest, and Charlie, somewhere in the back of his mind, tells himself he just has to make it a little longer.

A little longer and then they can get back to a normalcy he finds comfort it. A little longer and then this will all be over, no harm, no foul.

\-----

**Surprisingly, Meeks has known that there's something other than friendship and their special brand of contempt in his chest for Charlie for only a few days more than Charlie has.**

**Whereas Charlie's had at least been something to write home about, Meeks's had been much more. Subdued.**

**Charlie, in his ever present hatred for mornings, had simply grunted at Meeks, with still squinted eyes and hair all in his face and pursed lips.**

**Meeks had laughed, as he always did, but somewhere between his lungs warmth had pooled.**

**His thoughts had been as follows:**

**-Haha, I love him.**

**\- Wait, fuck.**

**\- I wonder if Neil's awake.**

**\- Of course Neil's awake.**

**\- Is he awake enough to take my call?**

**\- Might as well find out.**

**And bing-bam-boom: realization in its simplest of forms. No muss, a little fuss, and Meeks was on the train to Mild Existential Dread with a Dash of Fear and a Pinch of Brewing Acceptance Land with a one way ticket and a full suitcase.**

**Charlie, however, was hurtling toward Panicking in a Cool Lake House's Not as Cool Bathroom Ville on a Vespa that was leaking break fluid, with only the clothes on his back and a crumpled Monopoly money bill in his swim trunk-esque shorts' pocket.**

**Naturally, he texted Todd.**

**We'll pause here for the inevitable question on your mind.**

**"Why did Meeks call Neil and Charlie text Todd? Shouldn't it be reversed? Or both of them go to Neil?"**

**You'd think, right?**

**See, the thing is, Neil makes Meeks brave. Neil makes everyone brave, but on the days that Meeks loses all his self esteem, all of his courage, to some blackened hole in a pit in his stomach, Neil is one of the only ones who can help him through it.**

**Charlie's the other.**

**I think you might see the issue with that.**

**And as far as Todd and Charlie are concerned, Todd brings Charlie down. When Charlie is feeling righteously impulsive and wired, when he knows he's about to be rash and idiotic, Todd is one of the only people who can talk true sense into him.**

**The other - I think you see the pattern here - is Meeks, of course.**

**Needless to say, it leads to two very different conversations.**

\-----

**OUTGOING CALL -- > PEIL NERRY**

**DURATION - 22:46**

Neil: _Meeks! How's vacation?_

Meeks, hesitantly: _Mostly okay._

Neil: _…mostly?_

Meeks: _I realized. Something._

Neil, unsure: _Something?_

Meeks: _It might have something to do with Charlie. And me. And how oblivious I've been_.

Neil: _Oh! Good! Do you wanna talk about it?_

Meeks: _Maybe? I think I'm still processing._

Neil, enthusiastically: _Right, of course!_

Meeks: _So you knew, then? That I, ah, liked Charlie?_

Neil, musing: _I suspected, but it's not really my business._

Meeks: _Right_.

**\- Silence that lasts longer than it should. -**

Neil: _Meeks?_

Meeks: _Yeah?_

Neil: _Why'd you call exactly?_

Meeks: _How did you know, with Todd?_

Neil, simply: _He walked into class._

Meeks: _Keating's?_

Neil, with a smile evident in his voice: _Yeah_.

Meeks: _Just like that?_

Neil: _Yes, Meeks._

Meeks: _Huh. Okay._

Neil: _What about you?_

Meeks: _What?_

Neil: _What about you? What gave you this great revelation?_

Meeks: _Oh. He woke up._

Neil, appreciatively: _Morning Charlie. You can't tell, but I'm nodding. You've got it bad, Meeks._

Meeks, calmly: _I know_.

\-----

To: _Hot Toddy_  
From: **Me**

**toddald**

_charlie i told you to stop calling me that_

**todd im freaking out just go with me on this one huh**

_what did you do_

**nothing!**

_charlie_

**nothing yet!**

_better_

_so…_

**so?**

_why'd you text me, charlie_

**hold on the back of the tub is digging into my back**

**okay im back**

_are you drunk, hungover, or somewhere in between_

**surprisingly enough, my dearest todd, none of the above**

**i've come to a realization**

_is it that you need to learn to get to the point_

**nope! why are you so pissy this afternoon :~)**

_its 100° and im outside, listening to my mother fawn over my brother, who is, in fact, not even here. please, mr. 4.1 gpa, do the math_

**oh, then my usual dumbassery should cheer you right up**

**guess who didnt realize he was in love with his best friend!! its me!! the guy having a mild panic attack in a bath tub!!**

_oh, jesus char, are you all right???_

**how did i not know todd!! i spend almost every waking second in his damn hip pocket and have since were were toddlers!**

_well maybe that's why? youve spent so much time with him that you were able to differentiate the shift_

**why couldnt it be you todd,,, so levelheaded, so competent**

_because we're the type of people that are going to grow old together so we can run each other over in our wheelchairs, and you and meeks are the type of people that are going to grow old together for the sake of it_

**shut the fuck up thats the kindest thing youve ever said to me ♡**

_you know its okay right? to love him?_

**why yes todd, gay IS okay, thank you for clearing that up for both myself, gay, and yourself, also gay!**

_that's not what i meant and you know it, quit deflecting._

_i know you, charlie, and i know you're probably spiraling about it being him. it's all right._

**it's just. he's my best friend, todd. eighteen years, i dont know how to…be without him.**

**(no offense)**

_none taken_

_look, char, falling in love with your best friend is one of the luckiest and most amazing things. and it's also completely fucking terrifying._

**i feel as if there might be a but coming**

_but you cant alleviate any of that unless you talk._  
_wiith him._  
_face to face_  
_while sober_  
_did i cover everything?_

**i think so**

**what if im not Ready to tell him yet, i just figured it out 20 minutes ago!**

_then you arent ready to tell him! which is completely fine! really charlie, ive never seen you do a thing you didnt want to anyway_

**yeah yeah all right**

**hey, todd**

_yes?_

_how did it. i mean. with neil. how did you._

_know? feel?_

**yeah**

_i had inklings of my crush, but i didnt know it was love until that day after id done the on the spot poetry for keating. i saw his face in the crowd and i had never seen someone look at me the way he did. it took my breath away and thumped through every beat of my heart._

**thats gay :')**

_shut up charlie_  
_:)_

**love you todd thanks for the chat**

_yeah yeah love you too char_

\-----

**Surprisingly, a calm permeated the boys for the hours following their respective realizations and calls home. It means a few calm days for Meeks, and one calm day for Charlie.**

**Acceptance, one might call it.**

**Which, yeah, it kind of was.**

**They still lounge around and across one another, are still attached at the hip everywhere they go. They still bicker over what to watch on Netflix at night when they're scrunched up in bed at night. They still share those just shy of being perfectly friendly touches and glances.**

**Meeks still tosses his feet into Charlie's lap when they share the couch, and Meeks still brushes his hands through Charlie's hair when the oppourtunity arises.**

**Honestly, the only thing they really add is pet names when they're in front of the others, and obviously, that isn't much of a stretch for them, is it?**

**Because without realizing it, truly, gentle domesticity was their normal. Just without the kissing. (Except for that one time in eleventh grade that absolutely no one is to speak of.)**

**And that's why it comes down to all or nothing. Because they've been this way for so long, everything is the only way anything will ever come to light.**

\-----

When Charlie's eyes crack open to faint sunlight, he knows something is terribly, terribly wrong with this day.

He twists to the side, cracking his spine and neck, and finds himself facing Meeks's midsection. Unclothed. God help him.

"Meeks," Morning-Charlie slurs. "Wha's goin'on?"

Meeks looks down at Charlie from where he's propped up against the headboard, his phone balanced against his royal blue basketball shorts.

"Give it a minute," Meeks instructs plainly, bumping his glasses' frames with the side of his index finger.

And so Charlie does, his eyes drifting back shut for a moment. But just one.

"Oh- god! Why is it so hot?" Charlie finally groans, flinging what's left of the covers off his body, and coincidentally, over the side of the bed.

"Been asking myself that since five."

"What time is it now?" Charlie asks, fussing at the point where the hem of his tank top and the waistline of his shorts meet - though now stuck together with sweat.

"Six thirty-ish."

"Disgusting," Charlie murmurs, words slurred by the heat encasing them.

"I'm about to head downstairs, you gonna waste the day away up here or what?"

"The day doesn't start until noon."

Meeks rolls his eyes softly, but tosses his legs over the side of the bed anyway. As he gets up, he clamps his fingers around the blanket still covering Charlie's warm frame, and pulls it along behind him.

Faintly, he hears Charlie mumble, "Dick."

But then he hears new feet touching the floor.

\-----

Meeks was sitting on the couch, sipping at room temperature coffee by the time Charlie came down the stairs. He'd offered him a cup, but had been brushed off in favor of seeking a anything remotely cold.

The room was mostly quiet, save for the ticking of the clock.

"A/C's shot," Jenni proclaims, dusting her hands off on her thighs. "But, it's our last day here, so we should go do something anyway," she says as she slumps down onto the floor beside Sam, intertwining their pinkies and nothing else because of the heat.

"It's too hot to do anything," Chris calls from a few feet away, again as he had been the first day when Charlie and Meeks had arrived, tucked in front of the fan.

"I second that," Charlie adds in a muffled voice, face down on the floor, Meeks's foot tapping at the back of his knee.

"You guys are whimps," Sam states plainly.

"What she said!" Zarah adds in, taking the stairs two at a time. "Get up, all of you, we're going out!"

\-----

They all end up at an arcade 20 minutes clear across town. The outside isn't much, a little worse for wear when all's said and done.

The paint is peeling off the siding, and the logo is faded on the handmade sign, but the glass on the front door is clean, the lights on the inside bright, and the bell above the door still chimed when they all entered together.

They descended upon the token machine like a pack of hyenas, already in fits of joy and laughter as bills were swapped around and jangling paper cups were passed around to everyone.

At first, everyone went their seperate ways. Charlie ended up at a racing game, parked firmly in the seat and willing to spend all of his tokens there. Meeks, however, ended up at a whack-a-mole style machine.

Chris and Sam had started at seperate consoles, but after a few duds, they gravitated together in an almost violent match of air hockey in which no knuckles were safe.

Jenni had wandered around before taking up residence next to Charlie and decidedly kicking his ass despite them not being in a multiplayer game.

And time passed as it always does in the rush of neon lights and ghostly sounds springing up from every corner. Slowly and faster than ever before and not at all.

They all moved around, Meeks and Chris somehow finding themselves in a dance battle on an old model of Dance Dance Revolution (which neither really one because they were hopelessly without rhythm), Jenni popping over to a boxing game only to have Sam come in and wipe out her score with one quick hit. Charlie found himself in the middle of a line of unoccupied skee ball machines at one point, but it didn't last long, instead with Jenni and Chris joining his either side, and then Sam and Meeks following them.

They were there for the longest time, tickets spitting and sputtering out of the machine until they were out, leaving a pile at everyone's feet.

"I definitely won," Chris says, holding his skee ball tickets in his fists. "C'mon, Jen, look at this."

"And I'm saying look at Charlie's!" Jenni squawks, black hair swinging. "He finally found something he's good at, let him have it."

"Well gee, thanks, Jenni," Charlie scoffs, but his mouth is pliable, and arranges into a grin as he struggles to keep the ball of tickets in his arms steady.

"Hey," Sam pipes up. "Has anyone seen Zarah?"

That, at least, gets their little group to stop dead in their tracks.

"…no?" Chris tries.

"Oh my god, Chris," Jenni starts.

"You lost her, too!" Chris cries.

"She's your girlfriend! My girlfriend's right here!"

"Well, she's your girlfriend's best friend, so," Chris says, as if it wins him the argument.

Charlie, from where he is just behind Chris, ducks his head into his hand, and he hears Meeks huff a laugh through his nose to his left.

"Charlie and Meeks are best friends _and_ boyfriends, and yet managed to keep track of one another, so there," Sam states, physically stepping between Jenni and Chris so as to keep their lines of sight off of one another.

\-----

They find Zarah.

Zarah, who is making small town arcade history.

"The machine's busted," she explains, attention focused only half at the task at hand. "The timer, specifically," she adds.

And it is, it freezes every couple seconds, and she has an extra window to shoot off a couple more balls and sink them through the net, racking up more and more tickets. There's already a pile at her feet that's folded neatly in on itself, but despite how compact it is, Charlie knows it'd probably eat his own stash of tickets for breakfast.

She sinks shot after shot until finally the timer and the tally stops and it spits out her tickets for her latest round.

"I think I've finally got it down to a science," she says to her enamored group of friends. "I'm gonna do one last round, see if I can't beat my highscore."

And does she ever.

It's down to the wire, so close that Meeks's hands are numb as he watches on from behind his crooked glasses. Charlie and Jenni are no better, watching with matching agape expressions. Sam amd Chris are holding one another up.

The final buzzer sounds and the group shrinks in to get a good look.

"Holy shit," Meeks says appreciatively.

"Holy shit, indeed, Meeksy."

"Babe, babe, oh my god, get in there, I wanna get a picture-!"

The fanfare dies down, but they're all still buzzing in amazement and a particular kind of drunk-on-giddiness they haven't felt since high school.

The light outside is receding so the neon inside burns ever brighter.

"Last call and then we go find something to eat?" Sam proposes as they all pass in front of the doors and simultaneously realize the time.

All their "Deal"s seem to fall in unison, and soon they've broken off into their inevitable couples. Jenni and Sam back to skee ball for a rematch, Zarah and Chris to the water gun target game.

Charlie busies himself at one of the luck of the draw machines with his last couple tokens until a plain red bouncy ball rolls down the chute and rests by his shin. He retrieves it, finally satisfied, and strolls over to Meeks where he stands in the corner, freckled face determined.

The crane machine's joystick glides under his hand as he pokes his tongue out between his dry lips and forces himself into full concentration.

Charlie leans up against the lightless machine beside Meeks's and watches his best friend, mindlessly tossing that ball up and down and up-

Meeks's mouth is pulled tight as he hovers over what might be a stuffed moose or maybe a hamburger with a bad case of personification. Charlie's lips pull upward at the realization - it's something Meeks has done since he was a kid, pulled his lips so tight it looks like he doesn't have any.

Charlie wonders when he fell in love with that.

Because it's funny, right? He didn't even know he'd fallen in love with him or his quirks or his…everything. It had just showed up one day out of the blue.

Well, no, that's not true. There had been plenty of warning signs to the impending love-falling, years worth, if he thought about it. He'd just been too oblivious to see them.

But he isn't now.

He hopes that's enough.

The crane machine starts singing and Charlie snaps from his daze to find Meeks beaming grandly at him, a - penguin? - in his hands.

"'Lee," Meeks calls, and Charlie nearly drops his ball to intercept the stuffed monstrosity being thrown into his hands.

"That's for you," Meeks tells him with a wink.

A _wink_.

\-----

**Surprisingly, the car ride back to the lake house is silent.**

**It isn't a bad kind of silence, rather that warm, gooey kind that spreads between each occupant when the radio is humming low and the sun is dipping down behind the horizon.**

**Charlie has both his hands on the wheel for once, and Meeks has his face turned into the rolled down window, arm in the sill, catching a loud breeze.**

**The curve through the unfamiliarly familiar back roads, Sam's Toyota and Chris's Subaru long gone from sight.**

**The comfort that surrounds them is almost suffocating, really. And unsurprisingly, they both decide the same something in that moment.**

\-----

The truck doors' slams still reverberate around the night sky as Charlie and Meeks make their last trek up the path. The air is hot and overpowering, but they gather their remnants from both the arcade and dinner to take inside.

Meeks is worrying his lip between his teeth as he tries to keep his foot in his flip flop and his haul in his arms.

"Hey, Charlie?"

"Hm?" he hums miserably in return, not even turning around - the heat never has been his friend.

The thought of returning to that terribly hot house, of all those assuming eyes on them, the thought of never-

It gets to Meeks.

"I'll race you to the lake?"

\-----

**Surprisingly, that isn't a question that's been asked yet, on their little lake vacation.**

\-----

Charlie immediately surges forward, his legs like a Flinstone in a car to get him inside the house so he can dump his things on the nearest patch of available floor.

A delighted laugh escapes Meeks's mouth as he kicks in a little extra speed, leaving tumbling pebbles behind as he crashes into the house as well and drops his things beside Charlie's.

\-----

**Surprisingly, none of the other four even look up from what they're doing as the two boys stumble through the house, either discarding shoes or in the middle of pulling their arms out of the arm holes on their respective tank tops.**

\-----

Charlie practically rolls down the hill as he trips out of his shoes somewhere along the way to the lake. He can hear Meeks behind him, his squawking laugh permeating the air now as he cries a cheap warning for Charlie to not forget to dump his phone.

\-----

**Surprisingly, they make it to the lake unscathed and at the same time, dropping their shirts-turned-bags full of phoned and wallets and socks.**

**Painfully chilly water fountains up around them as they cannonball in, in one final act of unison.**

\-----

Charlie can see the stars.

In fact, he's surrounded by them.

In the sky, on the water, and threaded through Meeks's freckles.

They splash around like a couple toddlers for a while, flinging wster in the direction of the other, crying out when they get hit even though they're already soaked.

\-----

**Unsurprisingly, it doesn't take them long to calm down, kicking their legs only enough to keep them afloat, and look near, but not quite at, the other.**

\-----

Honestly, Meeks can't see.

He hadn't bothered with contacts that morning, and his only pair of glasses were on the bank because, again, his only pair.

So, mostly what's happening around him is commited by murky water and a smudged figure that must be Charlie.

But even in his current state, he can see that something in the air. A tension laden with quiet and so thick it makes his heart hammer fast enough that he thinks it must travel through the water to Charlie.

"Meeksy?"

"Uh-hm?"

It stays quiet after that, and Meeks can hear the hesitation in the slope of Charlie's shoulder and the almost nervous way he plays with the water.

"Steven," he tries again, his voice no more sure.

"Yeah, Charlie?"

"Hypothetically," he starts. "If I were to kiss you-"

"I'd tell you to shut up," Meeks says with a warm smile.

"Good thing I wasn't gonna kiss you, then," Charlie replies, finishing the joke.

"But if I kissed you?" Meeks asks, and it breaks the silence around them. Where there had once been nothing there is then a symphony of crickets and a thunderous synchronicity of heartbeats.

"I wouldn't be opposed."

\-----

**Surprisingly, it isn't terrible, as far as first kisses go. There's obviously the drawback of Meeks literally not being able to make out the guy he's trying to make out with (hah!), but it isn't horrible.**

**The water is reflecting the moon, sending shafts of pale light through Meeks's already light eyelashes, making them near translucent.**

**Charlie guides Meeks's hands to his face, and is watching those lashes the whole time as familiar finger pads find home on his cheeks.**

**When their lips meet, you'd probably think there'd be some sparks, a little panache, but there isn't. No fireworks, no jolts.**

**Just a slight click. One piece interlocking into the one its been without for so long.**

**_It felt_ , Charlie would later muse to Neil, _a bit like coming home_.**

**_He's being an overdramatic sap_ , Meeks would say to Todd when he recounted that particular tidbit, _it just felt right_.**

\-----

BONUS - 6 Months Later

It's the height of December in New England, and Meeks is in fucking shorts. If Charlie weren't so smitten he'd hate him.

The reason Charlie knows this bit of information, is because he was sitting on the counter in the communal kitchen, waiting for his water to boil, and in walks his boyfriend in an oversized hoodie (one that usually sits at the back of Charlie's own closet, he knows) and _shorts_.

Sure, his hair is mussed, and his eyes are still sleepy, and he looks like he'd give a great hug at that moment - but _shorts_!

"Meeksy, what the fuck," Charlie states, no question about it.

"'m comfortable," Meeks replies, already knowing where the conversation is headed.

"You can put on your thick socks, but not pants!" Charlie cries as the redhead comes into full view - and sure enough, has his wool-blend socks tugged up his calves.

"Leave me alone," Meeks whines pitifully, eyes half-lidded behind his glasses.

"You're insufferable in the winter," Charlie replies simply, extending his arms.

Immediately, Meeks shuffles into the opening, pressing between his knees for maximum closeness, and thus, maximum warmth.

"Just put some pants on," Charlie mutters into his - accurately thought - soft hair.

"No." It would be a more intimidating statement if his head weren't buried against Charlie's chest in a way that muffled his voice, but it was, so it wasn't.

"Fine. D'you want some hot chocolate? We're outta milk, but." He shrugs

"Yeah," Meeks replies, pulling his bead back just enough to be heard.

Charlie takes the opening, knowing it'll be the only one he gets for a couple hours, and ducks his head to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

(And maybe one to that trail of freckles.)

"Yeah, yeah," Meeks mumbles, but his smile is evident in his voice as he presses forward for a real kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> as always i'm on tumblr @desertrosetico and yall can hmu any time!!


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